notmtwain:Well, at least she still has her sense of humor. I think a lot of people would put singing The Proclaimers' "I'm gonna be (500 miles)" high up on the "Best ways to wake up a coma patient" list.

Well if Im ever in a coma play "its a small world" for like an hour before you unplug me. If I dont wake up to choke you I am dead.

Oldiron_79:notmtwain: Well, at least she still has her sense of humor. I think a lot of people would put singing The Proclaimers' "I'm gonna be (500 miles)" high up on the "Best ways to wake up a coma patient" list.

Well if Im ever in a coma play "its a small world" for like an hour before you unplug me. If I dont wake up to choke you I am dead.

cowgirl toffee:Oldiron_79: notmtwain: Well, at least she still has her sense of humor. I think a lot of people would put singing The Proclaimers' "I'm gonna be (500 miles)" high up on the "Best ways to wake up a coma patient" list.

Well if Im ever in a coma play "its a small world" for like an hour before you unplug me. If I dont wake up to choke you I am dead.

I'm thinking "Ice, Ice, Baby" would be really bad dying to.

Well Ice Ice baby is another one that I would wake up to choke somebody if Im not ready to go on the cart yet.

I don't see the issue here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but she was living in council housing. That's publicly-subsidized housing. She wasn't using it, and as she was in a coma, wasn't about to be using it for the forseeable future. Given that, they reassigned this limited resource of publicly subsidized housing to someone else that needed it.When she came out of the coma, she was again given housing, this time to one more appropriate for a person requiring a wheelchair (first floor, no yard to maintain).Correct me if I'm missing the point.

I'm not sure how things work in Britain, but how did the Council get to kick her out?Did she own it? Was it a subsidized flat? Was she not paying rent?If you had an apartment here in the states and you were in the hospital for 14 months without anyone making arrangements to pay the rent, you'd come back and find all your possessions had been sold to pay the back rent, and someone else living there.

Oldiron_79:cowgirl toffee: Oldiron_79: notmtwain: Well, at least she still has her sense of humor. I think a lot of people would put singing The Proclaimers' "I'm gonna be (500 miles)" high up on the "Best ways to wake up a coma patient" list.

Well if Im ever in a coma play "its a small world" for like an hour before you unplug me. If I dont wake up to choke you I am dead.

I'm thinking "Ice, Ice, Baby" would be really bad dying to.

Well Ice Ice baby is another one that I would wake up to choke somebody if Im not ready to go on the cart yet

But while she was being treated in hospital the local authority told the 53-year-old's family that she would have to give up the house on Pype Hayes Road, in Erdington, because it was unoccupied for so long.

I've heard about these strange possession laws in the UK. I heard from several OWS people how great it sounded when in the context of people owning multiple houses. So I guess they would support this.

gingerfish109:I don't see the issue here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but she was living in council housing. That's publicly-subsidized housing. She wasn't using it, and as she was in a coma, wasn't about to be using it for the forseeable future. Given that, they reassigned this limited resource of publicly subsidized housing to someone else that needed it.When she came out of the coma, she was again given housing, this time to one more appropriate for a person requiring a wheelchair (first floor, no yard to maintain).Correct me if I'm missing the point.

You also forgot the building she now lives in also offers on site care for people with medical problems.

gingerfish109:I don't see the issue here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but she was living in council housing. That's publicly-subsidized housing. She wasn't using it, and as she was in a coma, wasn't about to be using it for the forseeable future. Given that, they reassigned this limited resource of publicly subsidized housing to someone else that needed it.When she came out of the coma, she was again given housing, this time to one more appropriate for a person requiring a wheelchair (first floor, no yard to maintain).Correct me if I'm missing the point.

Pretty much. And the council was as apologetic and accommodating as they could be. When you live in subsidized, government housing (which I think in Britain means you're not paying for it), like in Section 8 housing here, they have rules. The article says they offered to keep it open if someone from her family lived in it one day a week, which isn't unreasonable; but nobody could manage that.

Did anyone really expect they could hold open her house for over a year rent-free in case she survived to come back? I mean, it's sad for her, but howcome her family couldn't manage to spend Saturdays in the house if they cared so much about keeping her home for her?

It sounds more like she's just upset with how the whole thing played out. The illness cost her the home, her own garden, her possessions, and of course her mobility. Now she has less of everything. The worst her or her mom can say is that it felt hard hearted of them to take her house back. She was in a come for 14 months! Be reasonable.

wygit:I'm not sure how things work in Britain, but how did the Council get to kick her out?Did she own it? Was it a subsidized flat? Was she not paying rent?If you had an apartment here in the states and you were in the hospital for 14 months without anyone making arrangements to pay the rent, you'd come back and find all your possessions had been sold to pay the back rent, and someone else living there.

Not being snarky, actually curious about what the setup is there.

The city council owned the property, and it was subsidized... after a year, they said it had been vacant for too long and other people who would actually live there should be able to rent it, so they evicted her. The stuff was sold because her family didn't have a place to put it all. The council's official position was that if someone from her family lived there three days a week, they could keep the subsidized place, but nobody was available to do even that much. It is a really sucky situation for all involved, but the council has to consider not just the person who lived in the house, but the people struggling to get by who also really needed some subsidized housing. It doesn't seem (from the article) like anyone was particularly hasty in their decision to evict her.

The new, also subsidized, first floor flat... this should take little explanation (I've become all too familiar with mobility challenges) in a lot of apartment buildings, they will make the first floor handicap accessible (the lady is in a motorized wheelchair and very much needs that accessibility)... they do that because it is cheaper to have handicap accessible first floor, then use stairs for higher floors than to install/maintain elevators. Also, in terms of subsidized housing facilities, by housing multiple people in need of health services in the same building, they make it more cost effective to have doctors, nurses, and other home health professionals (sometimes just people to help with things like cooking or baths) to come and help everyone. It is also fairly common in GB for them to subsidize housing in such facilities for an on-site nurse or other health professional (the one where my grandmom lived her last couple years had a physical rehab specialist).

painless42:Meh. Odds of waking up from a coma after 15 months are basically nil. I'm sure she'll get a new welfare apartment to replace the old welfare appartment.

Actually, she did. The family's chuffed that they had to sell the old furniture and by 1800 pounds worth of new furniture.

Had they lived in America, Mum would lose her house, be placed on a 18-month waiting list for new Section 8 housing (a double roll of the dice -- once for the neighbors and once for the landlord) and would have tens of thousands in insurance bills.

wygit:If you had an apartment here in the states and you were in the hospital for 14 months without anyone making arrangements to pay the rent, you'd come back and find all your possessions had been sold to pay the back rent, and someone else living there.

gingerfish109:I don't see the issue here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but she was living in council housing. That's publicly-subsidized housing. She wasn't using it, and as she was in a coma, wasn't about to be using it for the forseeable future. Given that, they reassigned this limited resource of publicly subsidized housing to someone else that needed it.When she came out of the coma, she was again given housing, this time to one more appropriate for a person requiring a wheelchair (first floor, no yard to maintain).Correct me if I'm missing the point.

exactly the sane kind of response that a non-sheep would come to. 14 months - they don't know if she's ever coming out. so yeah, they took her out and reassigned it. now she's got a home and on site care. geezus, that's hundreds of times better than the disabled poor get in this country.

Yvonne's anxiety about her new home was heightened when there was a fire in her neighbour's flat two weeks ago and she found herself trapped.

"I was terrified," she said.

"I called the fire brigade and they said to get out. I told them I couldn't because I couldn't get my wheelchair down the stairs. The lifts don't work in a fire and the fire doors automatically lock.

Imagine just for a moment that the fire department didn't get there in time to get her out of the building and she died. Do you get the point now?

I don't know how building codes are there, but here, if you're building facilities for the disabled, you have some substantially enhanced fire codes such that pretty much every exterior door is a fire door, sprinkler systems are mandatory (even in residentials), and a litany of other things to ensure safety. Having learned to walk more than a few times myself, I've been in facilities during fire drills (and one minor alarm, dryer fire), and if the building is constructed properly, and automation and ventilation done right, you'll see doors automatically closing themselves at the same time the A/C shuts itself down automatically, and a whole bunch of other neat features.

As a side note though, firefighters deal with wheelchair bound people trapped by stairs on a fairly regular basis in most major urban areas.

She was in the equivalent of section 8 housing, only unlike America, she got free treatment for her illness and was immediately re-housed in another publicly owned house when she was well enough to leave the hospital. Yeah, that's a clear case of the 1st-world blues, right there. If I'm reading that article correctly she's essentially been living on the public dime in a public house for at least 12 years now, starting in her early 40's.

/is looking at his early 40's right now, thinking seriously about emigrating to England after reading this "tragic" story.